Host an Encore Fellow

Can My Organization Benefit From an Encore Fellow?

“Because of our Encore Fellow, we have come further towards disaster preparedness/business continuity in the past year than since I started 7 years ago.”Cindy Roach, Executive Director, Sonoma Humane Society

Encore Fellows bring years of experience and a wealth of knowledge and skills to contribute to their Work Host. They are eager to learn about the important work you do, and their goal is to advance your organization’s capacity to deliver on your mission. Work Hosts are typically nonprofits, public agencies and other social purpose organizations.

“Using her wealth of clinical experience and our data, Elisa created a program to increase cancer screening rates almost 50%. We couldn’t have accomplished that without her.” Jean Polster, President and CEO, Neighborhood Family Practice, Cleveland, Ohio

Work Hosts gain many benefits from an Encore Fellow

Flexible source of talent to benefit your mission

Professional skills and expertise matched with a specific project assignment,

A time-limited, flexible work arrangement,

Maturity

Life experience, humility and eagerness to contribute in a hands-on role,

Affordability and value, a fraction of the equivalent market value of the work performed.

Read how Shannon Malloy, Director of Development and Operations, Cure JM, utilized an Encore Fellow to develop a chapter structure and raised $500,000 for research

“Encore Fellows bring a certain discipline, a certain rigor, to looking at problems and solving them. Having these Encore Fellows who can help lead a project can be the key to whether it’s successful or not.”Gil Munoz, CEO, Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center, Oregon

How It Works:

A low-risk, high return option to add to your portfolio of talent and benefit your organizational mission.

The typical cost of a Fellow, $30,000, is a fraction of the market value of the work performed.

Fellowship assignments last 1,000 hours over six to 12 months. Many host organizations have found ways to retain their fellows for further work or have hired their fellows outright. Other fellows continue as volunteers or Board members.

If you are interested in hosting a Fellow in your organization, please refer to the Program Directory page to apply through one of our regional programs.

“I did not know that allowing an Encore Fellow into our organization was going to have the benefits it did, enriching the lives of staff and clients, reaching into every area of our business, and changing how we do things today and from here on out.”Holly Noble, Program Director, Peace of Joe, Inc. Hillsboro, Oregon

Impact and scale. More than 90 percent of work hosts report that Encore Fellows helped to scale up their organization’s activity and helped develop new service partners, according to Encore.org’s 2015 study

New Talent Sources: Work hosts who said they were “unlikely” to hire encore talent from outside the sector dropped from 28% at the beginning of the fellowship to 6% following the fellowship. (based on 2009-2013 Encore Fellowship Program Completion Surveys of over 120 Work Hosts)

Featured Hosts and Fellowships

“Ken helped raise more than $7 million for a new Rockwood campus for the club. .In terms of just the complexity of this project, the financing of it, the legalities of it, Ken traversed it in a way that I couldn’t have. I would have had to pay a lot of money to have that expertise come in.”– Erin Hubert, CEO, Boys and Girls Club of Portland

“Lauren’s impact cannot be overstated. Through her leadership, professional expertise and “can-do” attitude, she has made a significant and lasting contribution to our organization. We targeted starting five chapters of Cure JM. She launched 3X that many. In the first year of our walk program, the Cure JM families and Lauren partnered together to organize five walks and raise well over $500,000. ” Shannon Malloy, Director of Development and Operations, Cure JM.

Partners in School Innovation works with K-12 school systems across three states to address the achievement gap. Hosting Encore Fellows since 2009, CEO Derek Mitchell says Encore Fellows not only bring valued tools and systems, they act as role models and mentors to make his team more effective. “Can you imagine if all nonprofits actually started achieving their goals because Encore Fellows were there to help them with proven tools and methods?” – Derek Mitchell, CEO, Partners in School Innovation, San Francisco, CA

“Renee moved FOTC forward on many fronts. Think of an old “To Do” list that you can never get to, and then 18 months later everything is done, the house is in order, and you have an instruction manual telling you what to do next. Her work on the capital project will last for 75 years. How’s that for impact?” – FOTC CEO Mark Young, Portland, OR

Meet Other Work Hosts Watch videos from sponsors and nonprofits about the value of Encore Fellowships.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Sort Of Work Do Encore Fellows Do?

Encore Fellows bring a wide variety of highly transferable skills that can have a huge impact in the organizations that host them. Typical functional backgrounds for fellows and the project areas they relate to include:

What Are Work Host Criteria And Responsibilities?

Work hosts, typically nonprofit, education or public agencies, create and manage impactful Encore Fellow assignments. Below are the key criteria of an effective Work Host:

High-impact work: A work host identifies a role or assignment for the fellow that advances its mission and responds to high-priority organizational needs. A matched Work Host and Fellow agree to a “Statement of Work” which clearly defines the roles, expectations, and milestones and aligns with the fellow’s skills and abilities. This document guides the definition of the work and outcomes throughout the Fellowship, but also allows for flexibility to incorporate new opportunities and learning during the course of the Fellowship.

Leadership and commitment: The work host integrates the fellow into its leadership team, provides strong sponsorship from its executive director, ensures organizational buy-in, and commits the personnel and resources to support the success of the assignment.

Fellow selection and support: The work host actively participates in the fellow selection process to ensure a good fit and provides management and support throughout the fellowship.

Structure and flexibility: Together the work host and fellow determine a work schedule that ensures the fellow has time to achieve results for the nonprofit and develop meaningful experience in the social sector. The ideal fellowship is approximately 1,000 hours, lasting one year on a part-time basis, with flexibility to accommodate the needs and circumstances of the fellow and the work host.

Financial engagement: The work host contributes a significant portion of the Fellowship cost, reinforcing the value of the Fellowship to the work host and the Fellow. This contribution may be part or all of the fellow’s stipend and a program fee. The full cost of a fellowship ranges between $25,000 and $35,000 for 1,000 hours, based on geography. This cost is a fraction of the equivalent market value of the work performed. Encore Fellowships are a very affordable source of experienced talent to your organization. A limited number of sponsorships are available

What Are The Next Steps To Host A Fellow?

The first step is to find an Encore Fellowships program which fits your needs. Each program has a director who is able to provide information about the focus, scope and terms of their program. Each program follows a common application process, which involves describing your organization, fellowship position(s), and why your organization and the position are a good fit for an Encore Fellowship. Most programs accept Work Host applications year-round; note that some programs limit work host applications to an invitation-only basis.

Once your organization is accepted into a program, you will work with the Program Director to describe your needs in more detail and conduct the matching process to identify a fellow.

Each program may have a range of funding models. Work hosts typically pay some or all of the fellow’s stipend and a modest program participation fee. The cost is a fraction of the equivalent market value of the work performed, so under any of the funding scenarios, Encore Fellowships are a very affordable source of experienced talent to your organization. A limited number of fellows have sponsorship from a former employer or other organization.

If a match is made, you and your fellow will work together to further define the objectives and scope of the project. You will be responsible for providing space, equipment, a proper orientation and to sponsor the fellow’s work. In addition to what you provide, the Encore Fellows Program Director offers opportunities for your fellow to interact with other fellows and ways for them to learn more broadly about the sector and social-purpose work.

How Do I Find And Apply To Host An Encore Fellow?

Visit the Program Directory page to find and apply through the appropriate regional program.